UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 2019/20 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Stadionul Dr
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UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 2019/20 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Stadionul Dr. Constantin Rădulescu - Cluj-Napoca Thursday 7 November 2019 CFR 1907 Cluj 18.55CET (19.55 local time) Stade Rennais FC Group E - Matchday 4 Last updated 04/11/2019 14:42CET Match background 2 Legend 4 1 CFR 1907 Cluj - Stade Rennais FC Thursday 7 November 2019 - 18.55CET (19.55 local time) Match press kit Stadionul Dr. Constantin Rădulescu, Cluj-Napoca Match background Romanian champions CFR Cluj are handily placed in Group E with six points and will hope to further strengthen their qualification chances as they host a Rennes side they defeated away in a tempestuous Matchday 3 encounter that produced three red cards and just one goal – scored early on by Ciprian Deac. • CFR came from behind to beat Lazio 2-1 at home on Matchday 1 but then lost 2-0 away to Celtic, the team they had eliminated in UEFA Champions League qualifying during the summer, before reviving their hopes and moving into second place, three points above Lazio, with that victory in Brittany. Rennes were held 1-1 at home by Celtic on Matchday 1 and that remains their only point so far, a 2-1 defeat in Rome preceding the home loss to CFR that leaves them at the foot of the group table. Previous meetings • CFR's victory at Rennes was their first in seven UEFA encounters against French clubs. Their record at home is D2 L1, the defeat having come in the most recent encounter, 1-2 against Bordeaux in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage. • Rennes had played just one European match against Romanian opposition prior to Matchday 3, losing 2-0 at Rapid Bucureşti in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage. The French club's coach that day was a Romanian, László Bölöni. Form guide CFR • CFR claimed their fifth Romanian league title – and second in succession – in 2018/19, all those triumphs having come since 2008. In Europe, they lost to Malmö in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League (0-1 h, 1-1 a) and got no further than the UEFA Europa League play-offs, where they were beaten twice (0-2 a, 2-3 h) by Dudelange of Luxembourg. • A 1-0 loss at Astana kicked off this season's UEFA Champions League campaign, but CFR turned that tie around with a 3-1 home success and went on to beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv (1-0 h, 2-2 a) before memorably knocking out Celtic (1-1 h, 4-3 a). Slavia Praha proved too strong, however, in the play-offs, winning both games 1-0 to send CFR into their second UEFA Europa League group stage; the first, in 2009/10, ended with just one win and five defeats. • CFR have lost five of their last eight home fixtures in the UEFA Europa League, qualifying included (W2 D1), and have been victorious in only four of their last 11 home fixtures in all European competitions (D2 L5). Their overall record, home and away, in the UEFA Europa League proper is W3 L8, the Matchday 1 win against Lazio having ended a run of seven straight defeats. Rennes • Rennes earned their second successive direct qualification to the UEFA Europa League group stage by defeating holders Paris Saint-Germain on penalties in a dramatic 2018/19 French Cup final. They also reached the UEFA Europa League round of 16 last term, finishing second in their group with nine points and knocking out Real Betis before succumbing 4-3 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Arsenal (3-1 h, 0-3 a). • The Brittany club are in their third UEFA Europa League group stage, the first of their campaigns in 2011/12 having ended unsuccessfully after three home draws and three away defeats. Rennes also participated twice in the UEFA Cup group stage, in 2005/06 and 2007/08, but were winless in those too (D2 L6). • Rennes were beaten in their first nine away fixtures in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stages, but that sequence ended on Matchday 5 last season with a win at Jablonec (1-0) that was followed by another at Betis (3- 1) before their decisive round of 16 second-leg reverse at Arsenal and this season’s loss at Lazio. Links and trivia • CFR's French-born Mali international midfielder Yacouba Sylla played for Rennes in 2015/16, making 20 Ligue 1 appearances. • Sylla is a Mali team-mate of Rennes defender Hamari Traoré, while Lacina Traoré (CFR) and Souleyman Doumbia (Rennes) are Ivory Coast internationals. • CFR striker Billel Omrani, who scored the Matchday 1 winner against Lazio, was born in France and started his career with Marseille, where he formed a close bond with current Rennes goalkeeper Édouard Mendy. Another Rennes player, Jérémy Morel, was also a team-mate during Omrani's time at the Stade Vélodrome. • CFR's Lithuanian goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis and Rennes' Senegalese forward M'Biaye Niang were both at Watford during the second half of 2016/17 but never played a first-team fixture together. • The three red cards shown in the Matchday 3 encounter – to Rennes pair Mendy and Eduardo Camavinga and CFR's Mateo Sušić – equalled the record for a UEFA Europa League match, group stage to final. Mendy's dismissal 2 CFR 1907 Cluj - Stade Rennais FC Thursday 7 November 2019 - 18.55CET (19.55 local time) Match press kit Stadionul Dr. Constantin Rădulescu, Cluj-Napoca after five minutes and 38 seconds was the fourth fastest sending-off in the competition's history. • Pépé Bonet, who replaced Mendy in that game, became the youngest goalkeeper ever to appear in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final, aged 16 years and 253 days – and the fifth youngest player overall. The coaches • The sixth most-capped Romanian international of all time, with 95 appearances, Petrescu played in four successive major tournaments from 1994 to 2000. The attacking right-back also carved out a successful career at club level, notably with Steaua Bucureşti and in England at Chelsea, with whom he spent five years and won three major trophies. He has had a diverse coaching career, the highlight a surprise Romanian title triumph with Unirea Urziceni in 2008/09 – a feat he repeated with CFR Cluj in 2017/18 and again the following season after returning from China in March 2019. • Handed the coaching reins at Rennes on an interim basis in December 2018, reserve team boss Julien Stéphan made such a positive impact that he was soon handed an 18-month deal. In the spring of 2019 the Rennes native not only led the Brittany club into the UEFA Europa League round of 16 but also to a sensational Coupe de France final victory on penalties against Paris Saint-Germain. He is the son of Guy Stéphan, the assistant coach to Didier Deschamps of reigning world champions France. 3 CFR 1907 Cluj - Stade Rennais FC Thursday 7 November 2019 - 18.55CET (19.55 local time) Match press kit Stadionul Dr. Constantin Rădulescu, Cluj-Napoca Legend Competitions Club competitions National team competitions UCL: UEFA Champions League EURO: UEFA European Football Championship ECCC: European Champion Clubs' Cup WC: FIFA World Cup UEL: UEFA Europa League CONFCUP: FIFA Confederations Cup UCUP: UEFA Cup FRIE: Friendly internationals UCWC: UEFA Cup Winners' Cup U21FRIE: Under-21 friendly internationals SCUP: UEFA Super Cup U21: UEFA European Under-21 Championship UIC: UEFA Intertoto Cup U17: UEFA Under-17 Championship ICF: Inter-Cities Fairs Cup U16: UEFA European Under-16 Championship U19: UEFA Under-19 Championship U18: UEFA European Under-18 Championship WWC: FIFA Women's World Cup WEURO: UEFA European Women's Championship Competition stages Other abbreviations F: Final GS: Group stage (aet): After extra time pens: Penalties GS1: First group stage GS2: Second group stage No.: Number og: Own goal 3QR: Third qualifying round R1: First round ag: Match decided on away P: Penalty R2: Second round R3: Third round goals agg: Aggregate R4: Fourth round PR: Preliminary round Pld: Matches played AP: Appearances SF: Semi-finals QF: Quarter-finals Pos.: Position Comp.: Competition R16: round of 16 QR: Qualifying round Pts: Points D: Drawn R32: Round of 32 1QR: First qualifying round R: Sent off (straight red card) DoB: Date of birth 1st: first leg 2QR: Second qualifying Res.: Result ET: Extra Time round sg: Match decided by silver GA: Goals against 2nd: second leg FT: Final tournament goal t: Match decided by toss of a PO: Play-off ELITE: Elite round coin Rep: Replay 3rdPO: Third-place play-off GF: Goals for W: Won PO - FT: Play-off for Final GS-FT: Group stage – final gg: Match decided by golden Y: Booked Tournament tournament goal L: Lost Y/R: Sent off (two yellow Nat.: Nationality cards) N/A: Not applicable f: Match forfeited Statistics -: Denotes player substituted +: Denotes player introduced *: Denotes player sent off +/-: Denotes player introduced and substituted Squad list D: Disciplinary *: Misses next match if booked S: Suspended QUAL: All UEFA qualifiers UEL: Current season total UEFA Europa League appearances from the group stage onwards prior to the current matchday UEL: Total appearances in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final only UEFA: All-time total appearances in UEFA club competition including qualifying Disclaimer: Although UEFA has taken all reasonable care that the information contained within this document is accurate at the time of publication, no representation or guarantee (including liability towards third parties), expressed or implied, is made as to its accuracy, reliability or completeness.